Michigan's real talent shortage: college grads

While we certainly do need more skilled trades workers, recent analysis by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's team shows that the key to reaching her "Sixty by 30" goal — 60 percent of Michiganders having a four-year or associate degree or certificate by 2030 — is graduating more with a bachelor's degree or better.

In fact, of the 700,000 additional credentialed workers Michigan will need to reach that goal, 500,000 must be college graduates; 160,000 will be those with associate degrees and 70,000 will be certificate holders, including apprentices.

Meeting that goal will be daunting. While some have suggested that Michigan's high schools have taken a "college for all" approach, the reality is that Michigan is below the national average in the share of high school graduates going to college. We are lagging at a time when college graduates are the raw material for the best paying employers and positions in the economy — as Michigan discovered when Amazon passed over us for the HQ2 opportunity.

Students may not be getting all the facts either. State data show that the starting median annual wage for someone with a certificate is $32,220, going up to $35,500 after five years. But with a bachelor's degree, the median wage is $37,200 — jumping to $50,000 after five years.

The primary issue standing in the way of many young people, particularly those from families of modest means, is the perceived cost of attending college. A survey commissioned by the Michigan Association of State Universities conducted last year showed that while more than eight in 10 parents of a Michigan high school student expected their child to earn a degree, 70 percent said that high costs are a barrier.

The sticker price of tuition in our state is high, due primarily to massive cuts in state support for college students. Today, Michigan invests an inflation adjusted $1 billion less on higher education than in 2002, leading to higher tuition costs.

But for many families, the opportunity is still there. Students attending a Michigan public university pay on average a full 40 percent less for the full cost of attendance when all forms of financial aid are taken into consideration, not including loans.

The key to unlocking that student aid is the FAFSA form — the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It's used by virtually all student aid granters to determine need-based aid from any source. But in Michigan, just over half — 55.9 percent — of high school graduates filled out the FAFSA last school year. That compares with 78.7 percent in Louisiana, 77.8 percent in Tennessee, 63.3 percent in Illinois and 60.9 percent in Ohio.

When it comes to completing the FAFSA, we often see wide discrepancies among student populations. Students from smaller, rural schools, where less affluent parents may never have gone to college, complete the FAFSA at far lower rates than those from suburban schools, where more affluent parents who have attended college seek to maximize support for their students.

For example, for the 2018-19 school year, Owosso High School had a 42 percent FAFSA completion rate while West Bloomfield High School had a 66 percent FAFSA completion rate. That suggests many modest income families in Owosso are bypassing the opportunities a college education can provide. When that happens, our state's future economic competitiveness is endangered.

A year ago, MASU kicked off the Get MI Degree campaign (getmidegree.com) to remind parents and students of the value of a four-year degree and to encourage and help them to complete the FAFSA. We will be coordinating even more closely with the Michigan College Access Network, the Detroit Regional Chamber and other organizations to bolster that message this fall, focusing on October as Michigan College Month, and the time to start working on the FAFSA.

Michigan needs more college students to meet the needs of employers. Our state's families can find college to be more affordable than often thought. It all starts with filling out the FAFSA.

Daniel Hurley is CEO of the Michigan Association of State Universities.